WATERFORD -- The town's Republican committee has nominated Frank McClement to fill the vacancy left by retiring long time town board member Liz Callaghan.

The committee vote took place last Thursday after a search for interested candidates was conducted, which resulted in six people being considered, said David Ball, a spokesman for the Waterford Republican Committee and a town board member.

"They were all strong candidates," he said. The process included reviewing resumes and interviewing each candidate. At the end, two names remained with McClement coming out with the majority of votes. Ball did not specify the tally of the 16-member committee.

Ball said that he felt McClement could interact well with people of various backgrounds.

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A Waterford-Halfmoon graduate, McClement grew up in Waterford after moving with his family to the area in the third grade. "I'm raising my family here now. I felt that I owed it to my family and friends to get involved," said McClement, 37.

McClement, who has been involved with the local Republican party for two years, is a Veterans Services Officer with the county's Veterans Services Agency. He was a U.S. Army paratrooper from 1995 to 1998 and was deployed to Egypt for a six-month peace keeping mission. He also has about two years of experience on the zoning board of appeals and has coached soccer and wrestling. He was on the 1992 Waterford championship soccer team.

He and his wife, Christina, have two children - Cassidy, 6, and Hunter, 11.

"I'm very pleased with the recommendation," said Supervisor Jack Lawler. "I would have been pleased with any of the candidates. We usually have a difficult time finding interested, qualified people but we had half of a dozen great candidates."

Lawler expected that McClement would be appointed during the town board's January organizational meeting. With that appointment, McClement would need to campaign for the 2013 town board slate.

"I'd like to help get the younger generation engaged," said McClement, who would be the youngest representative on the town board.